Dietrech's Defenders
by HymenHammer
Summary: Commissar Dietrech was neither a Hero or a Zealot, so how will he and the 14th Kerriquan Regiment survive a battle against Chaos no one saw coming? Original was deleted by accident. First 3 Chapters reposted
1. Chapter 1

**Dietrech'sDefenders**

" "A suspicious mind is a healthy mind" is what we were always told, however, none could have expected such a sudden attack. (illegible text) the Space Marines let one of the Chaos fleets escape, and it made its way to our planet, Kerriqua."

-Recovered Journal Entry, Pvt. Jacob Reinwa(KIA). 14th Kerriquan Regiment.

**Chapter One**  
_"I hate my uniform, it makes guardsmen hate me."_

_-Memoirs of a Commissar _By Commissar Ogalsh (10th Kerriquan Regiment) (Ret.)

Waking up was never a pleasant experience for me, a lot of people claimed that they woke up smiling, ready for anything. I, on the other hand, usually woke up with a frown. However, today was to be an interesting day, I was being assigned to my first regiment, and that demanded I be on time and looking as sharply as ever if I were to land an impression on the hardened Imperial Guardsmen. I had always been a man with a sharp tongue, able to talk my way out of many things and make favorable negotiations. It is with that mindset that I concluded five more minutes would have both of the argument leaders in my head happy.

I had just recently gotten out of the Schola, apparently now I was a full fledged Commissar. When I exited the Schola, I had two things in my mind. The better part of my head was happy to finally get out of the damn place, how my fellows could stand there and put all their faith in the Emperor was beyond me. Sure, I was loyal to the Imperium, but I wasn't a fanatical lunatic, something that made the Regiment I was soon to join more comfortable around a Commissar Who I will remind you can execute anyone he/she decides is 'unfitting' than with the regiment's own priest. I had heard tales of Commissars with similar minds to my own, and how heroic they were, and how much they differed from the average Commissar. By the looks of it, I could either be a strict, trigger-happy lunatic who puts all his faith into the Emperor, or be a kind-hearted Hero. Both of those, combined with my amazing ability to screw myself over, and lack of blind faith made me a candidate for neither.

The other part of my mind, however, dreaded leaving the place. Commissars were, by the media, great men who inspired those with them to fight for the Imperium like no one else, men who led by example, and were admired by those who followed them. You find such men about as often as you find a pleasant smelling Ork. Commissars are hated by their troops. Having someone who is allowed to execute anyone whom they believe is 'lacking morale' just to intimidate the surrounding soldiers into bravery instilled by fear is far from pleasant company. There even existed Commissars willing to execute anyone they thought looked unfitting to be an Imperial Guardsmen just because they had a bad morning. Even officers feared Commissars, having one attached to your regiment meant that if you were slacking in the least bit, you could be executed and the Commissar could take control of whatever said officer was doing, and still maintain the ability to kill anyone on sight.

That meant no friendships for Good Ol' Commissar Dietrech.

The shuttle I was on gave me the impression it liked to take the longer routes, making the tedious journey all the more exciting. I was being attached to the Kerriquan 14th Infantry, under the command of Colonel Severin Akkitus. The planet Kerriqua had been the target of many Ork attacks, and being a fresh Commissar unprepared for the large scale battles the Cadians, Vostrayans, Valhallans, or the brave Tanith souls faced, I was given the duty of helping maintain order on Kerriqua. The Ork attacks were predicted to not be the green tides that the media showcased, but it was more than their P.D.F Planetary Defense Forces could handle.

"We have arrived at our destination." Said the emotionless voice of the servitor co-piloting the shuttle. A few fresh Imperial Guardsmen began disembarking, followed by a small huddle of Techpriest enginseers. The entire trip I had traveled alone, not one guardsman spoke, or even approached me, they did, however, shoot glances of raw hatred at me at every opportunity.

"Need a hand with your bags, Commissar?" Said an obviously new trooper, stopping to salute. She was wearing her flak armour, helmet included, despite the fact we were not expecting the attack for another few weeks. Overexcited and young- add a firefight to that equation and you get a dead trooper. Ironically enough, I would end up owing my life to this trooper on several occasions. Plus, she approached me with admiration in her eyes an effect of Commissarial media, I assume, so I'll give her kudos for bravery.

"Name, trooper?" I ordered, doing my best to appear like the Commissars she had seen on the media. The longer I could keep her believing that, the longer she'd follow me, and despite her lack of experience, she would make a fine meat shield.

"Private Miranda Lilienthal. Skypean fourteenth, Commissar." She motioned towards my bags, which I gladly handed over to her. Her helmet appeared to be a little too big for her, and her shoulder length black hair was clearly visible, it wasn't even tied back. She was rather thin, with fair skin, and to be honest, I was surprised she was serving in the Imperial Guard instead of being at some higher-class elegant dress party. She attempted to pick up both of my bags, but failed miserably, I held back a smile, and picked one up myself.

"Thank you, private." I said, but her aid left as soon as it arrived, for she was quickly rallied with the other guardsmen, and I had to drag my bags to the room assigned to me, and then meet up with the Colonel and his cronies. Oh, the fun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"_I have a jacket, a helmet, and a mildly warming red luminator for a weapon, I should've made better decisions as a juvie."_

-Recovered Journal Entry, Private Mordof Evacunas (KIA) 14th Kerriquan.

"Well met, Commissar" Said the Colonel, "I am Colonel Severin Akkitus, to my right is Major Kuznetsov, and to my left is my aide, Lieutenant Evan." He then looked at me directly, revealing his white beard and scars, which matched his deep and gravely voice just perfectly.

"Well met, I am Commissar Dietrech," I paused for dramatic effect, "It is a pleasure to serve with the men and women of the 14th Kerriquan." I looked at them, and they did not look half as bad as I expected them to. Major Kuznetsov was a man who appeared to be in his mid forties, with an intimidating figure, and the lieutenant appeared to showcase everything Private Lilienthal did not.

"The other Commissar will converse with you perhaps tomorrow, we must be on our way to finish a discussion about our defenses. You will not be disappointed here on the 14th Kerriquan, Commissar." Said the Colonel, and the whole meeting as over as soon as it….wait, he said "The other Commissar"! This regiment had more than one? I knew the regiment was big, but wouldn't two Commissars be overkill? I had to look at the positive sides though, at least this way the paperwork won't be too bad.

I spent the remainder of the day unpacking and familiarizing myself with the Guardsmen, most did not dare look me in the eye, except Lilienthal. Her squad seemed to be tolerant of my presence, so I wrote it down in my head to attach myself to them in the case I needed to be in combat. The sergeant was a female who apparently spent too much time in the gym, and the other troopers did not really matter to me. If I ever needed to know their names, I could simply ask, I am the Commissar, after all.

"Did you see the Commissar? Wow, a real beauty, eh? I'd love to-" I turned around casually, looking at the whispering duo nearby, I could not believe my eyes; they were both men. I knew this was a mix-gender regiment, but could they influence each other so….

"What was _that_, trooper?" Said a cold female voice from behind one of the Chimeras, and I was suddenly assaulted by a feeling of both worried surprise, and relief. The latter would be because I knew I was not being eye balled by the men of the 14th, the former being that I knew what this female voice was….

"N-nothing, Commissar. I was simply stating how finely polished and impressive my lasgun is, Mam'." Said one of the guardsmen, and saluted. The Commissar did not believe him and raised her laspistol at the guardsman.

"Insulting a Commissar is a major offense, you are to be-" She said firmly, and I knew she was going to execute them. An idea suddenly sparked, I could gain the favour of the Guardsmen if I became a safe haven for them. The more meat shields, the better.

"Commissar. Hold your fire." I said as firmly and demanding as I could. She was shorter than myself, making me look rather intimidating, if I may say so myself, "I overheard the conversation, and I feel it is necessary to inform you that Guardsman was, indeed, conversing to his fellow man about his lasgun. A man who is attached to his gun to such an extent is more than likely a notable figure on the battlefield. His death would not benefit this regiment."

Her expression would have been priceless, had it not been for her being a Commissar and being able to hide it. She did not speak, but simply nodded, her red hair visible now that I was closer, and her face lightly sprinkled with freckles., but I knew I landed my mark, for I saw her mouth attempt to open, but fail.

"You two, Guardsmen, I require some aid. Follow me." I ordered, and the two guardsmen walked towards me with almost indecent haste. I turned around quickly, so I could let out that smile I had held in for so long.

"Yes, Commissar!" Said the same man who made the remark about the other Commissar, he was stocky and short, with an earsplitting voice.

"Names." I ordered, loud enough for the other Commissar to believe I was about as uptight and zealous as her.

"Private first-Class Jacob Reinwa." Said the short one.

"Private Mordof Evacunas" Said the other one.

"I'm going to need a tour of our base, as well as a Guardsman's point of view on your regiment." I said firmly, looking at both of them before saying, "What is that Commissar's name?"

"Commissar Rebekka Petrov, Commissar." Said Private Mordof, who was rather…large for a guardsman, and tall too, I had to resist from speaking to him as if he were an Ogryn.

"Truth be told, I don't blame you for your thoughts." I said lowly once we were out of earshot, throwing a grin at them. That did it, I saw the two struggle to not smile, and knew that if I was ever in a tough situation, they would have my back covered.

After a small tour of the base I decided that this planet was little more than a little obscure planet which had tolerable weather. By the accounts of both men, it appeared that this regiment was once an unruly one, which required more than one Commissar to maintain order. Those days were long gone, though, but they were still given two Commissars out of routine more than necessity. It didn't seem to be too bad of a regiment, and I decided that any real trouble the other Commissar would handle, and my life seemed to be going alright. How wrong I would eventually find out I was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Dietrech's Defenders**

**Chapter 3**

_"Fear me, but **follow**!" _

-Popular Commissarial propaganda saying.

I had spent the rest of the day speaking with Commissar Petrov, and after the first few minutes I realized she was of the zealous kind, and that was fine by me. There was six companies in our regiment, and despite hoping that she would do all the work, we decided to split the work in half. I would handle first to third company's behavior and paperwork, and she would do fourth, fifth, and sixth company. I inspected her person closer, and, while I was equipped with a laspistol and power sword, she had the traditional laspistol, but instead carried a chain axe with her. She had vivid green eyes, and as stated before, her face was slightly sprinkled with freckles, her physique was slightly bigger than Private Lilienthal's, most likely due to the training at the Schola.

I was being attached to second company, who were going to defend the most likely place the Orks would attack, which was the city of Edervia. Thankfully it was not as huge as a hive city, and not as open as a backwater world town. We spent the next several days setting up there, securing key locations and positioning snipers and heavy weapons where they would be most useful. Everything was going alright, the attack wasn't due for another two days, add or subtract a day. Private Reinwa and Private Evacunas accompanied me in locating a pleasant bar in the city, and we decided that a few drinks would not affect the mission too much.

"Commissar!" Said a panting female guardsman, with black hair and a helmet too big for her, "You'd better see this! The citizens…." She stopped to regain her posture and breath, "They seem to have lost it! They're fighting the other guardsmen, we tried contacting you, but you wouldn't respond."

I then realized I did not have my vox bead on, which was not a good thing, I quickly strapped it on and looked at Private Lilienthal, "Perhaps some of the troopers decided they liked something they saw, and tried to steal it."

"My apologies Commissar, but I believe this is far more serious than you-" The doors of the bar were thrown open, causing Lilienthal to drop to the ground, and a large amount of men and women dressed in red and black charged in.

"Blood for the-" Began to say one, before an auto-pistol was fired from the bartender, killing it. That gave Evacunas and Reinwa enough time to bring their lasguns up and begin peppering the oncoming foe with lasbolts. I used this time to kick down a table for cover before drawing my laspistol and attempting to drop as many of the insane men and women as I could.

"Keep firing, keep them at the door!" I ordered, before breaking from cover to rush to Lilienthal's aid, quickly grabbing her and pulling her to behind a pillar.

"You alright, Private?" I asked, before firing a few more shots at the oncoming foe.

"Yes. Thank you Commissar." She said before bringing up her own lasgun and firing. At first I was confused as to why the citizens began attacking us, before I remembered reading about their battle cry. We were facing heretics.

I turned on my earpiece and tuned into 2nd Company's Vox channel. The entire place was being flooded with similar heretic activity.

"The entire city is being overrun by heretics, they've managed to scatter our forces." I told the guardsmen, "The captain is suggesting we first try to regroup, and then push the heretics back to Regal Square. Eight blocks from here." I approved of the captain's tactic, for I did not have any better ones.

"I've seen Orks more organized than them, how they managed to scatter our forces is beyond me." Said Reinwa, his voice was leveled, but fast.

"Commissar, if I may, I have an idea." Said a voice behind me, I turned around and realized it was the bartender.

"Whatever you got, I'll appreciate it." I said, before focusing on the fight again and firing at the charging fanatics. After a few seconds of unproductive fighting, I saw what appeared to be a bottle on fire fly over our heads, and crash in the middle of the heretics, and only a second passed before they were all lit on fire. I drew my power sword and nodded a thanks to the bartender, before looking at the guardsmen.

"This is our chance, _charge_!" I said and jumped through the flames, knocking down another fanatic who seemed keen on running through the flames despite his minimal protection against it. I slashed him with my blade, before stabbing at another group of enemies. Lasgun fire erupted from behind me, and I knew my comrades were not joining me in battle.

"Blood for the blood god!" Shrieked someone behind me, and turned my head toward the voice's origin, but I was too late. I was thrown to the ground by a man with balding hair and bony features. Nonetheless he drew his curved knife and was about to drive it into my chest before he was picked up by Evacunas and thrown into the pavement.

"Well he sure ain't gettin' the Commissar's!" He said, and smashed his face in with the butt of his gun. I gave a nod of acknowledgement to him and noticed that we had cleared the group that had attacked us, "Ok, we're done here. If I'm correct, the Square should be north of here…" I looked at the direction we were supposed to head, and saw a firefight occurring. A heavy bolter emplaced on the roof of a building was firing rounds at approaching cultists, I also noticed a barrage of lasbolts come down from the roof. A heavy weapons team and a squad that managed to reach higher ground.

"This is the judgement of the righteous, heretical scum!" I heard the heavy bolter gunner say at the charging enemy.

"If we fire we'll draw attention, and be swallowed by that tide of heretics." Said Lilienthal, and I lowered my laspistol, "However, Reinwa and I appear to have a few grenades, that might disorientate them long enough for us to get through them and cover the blind spots of that heavy bolter position." Her input was definitely something I appreciated, and I nodded.

"Reinwa, you're with Lilienthal, follow her orders." I ordered, and saw the two get close to the mob before seeing a pair of grenades fly into the air.

"Ok, move!" I motioned Evacunas and began sprinting towards the lower levels of the building, as soon as I took my first step I heard the sound of grenades detonating, and knew we were clear. Lilienthal and Reinwa set down a small barrage of covering lasgun fire as we made our way to the safety of the walls. From there, Evacunas and I began firing, giving the other two troopers enough time to make it into the building.

"Commissar, Commissar answer me, what is going on?" Said a voice in my ear, and I immidietly recognized it as Commissar Petrov's voice.

"Chaos forces, apparently followers of Khorne." I said quickly, I did not need her distracting me, "Inform the Colonel."

"Yes, Commissar. Situation?"

"We're handing it." I said, almost hostile, but I kept my temper and began to reload.

"Very well." She said and disconnected from our channel, which was something I took relief in. I did not want her love for the Emperor telling my men to charge the cultists headfirst.

"Incoming!" Said a voice above us, almost desperate, and several steps were heard rushing down. I looked at the staircase behind us and realized it was the other guardsmen, about seven. The duo carrying the heavy bolter and ammunition I took to be the heavy weapons team, and the other five, one armed with a plasma gun, I took to be another guardsman squad separated by the sudden attack.

"What is it, trooper?" I said, finally sitting down on the ground seeing as the firefight had ended. Lilienthal and Reinwa inspected the building for Emperor-knows-what (probably spoils), and Evacunas continued to yell creative profanity at the stragglers who were now charging the building. Nothing to worry about, he would deal with them.

"Commissar." Said a deep voice in my ear, and I motioned the guardsman to hold his mouth, "The Ork Invasion force has arrived." Well, that was not much to worry about, I'm sure the rest of second company has regained control of the city, and when the Ork attack finally arrived in a few hours, we'd be more than ready.

"We are prepared, Colonel." I said, before taking note of the uneasy tone of his voice.

"Our psykers have just confirmed another force has arrived, and they are hours away from our location." Oh no, it can't be, "It appears to be…" Emperor, what did I do to deserve this? "Chaos."

"Our faith will shield us, Colonel." I said, and hoped that everyone else's faith would be enough to shield me too. I then motioned the trooper to talk again.

"Sir, it appears to be a hellhound. Coming straight to our position."

"Then why the worried voice?"

"It's not firing at the cultists, sir." I so wished Commissar Petrov was with me at that moment, she would have no problem leading the charge on that thing while I quickly make a run for it, but looking around the room, all the guardsmen had their eyes on me, and I knew they were counting on me. I had kept them alive so far, and I could see them beginning to respect me. I had to device a plan, any plan.


End file.
